A Monumental Candelabrum with Victory Figure
This large, highly finished drawing was made by the French artist Jean Guillaume Moitte (1746-1816). Moitte is principally known as a sculptor, but his artistic output was diverse and included significant excursions into the decorative arts and (book) illustration. This drawing presents a design for a candelabrum (or torchère) of monumental proportions. It is executed in pen and india ink with gray wash. The artist has made effective use of his media to create a dramatic play of light and dark areas and to emphasize the sculptural quality of his subject. The candelabrum is situated in an interior that resembles a temple, with an architectural backdrop containing fluted columns and a frieze of dancing nymphs reminiscent of the Borghese Dancers. It is richly decorated with sculpture in high and low relief, inspired by a combination of sources from Greek and Roman Antiquity, the Italian Renaissance, and eighteenth-century neoclassicism, all effortlessly translated and combined into Moitte’s own figurative vocabulary.
The design was undoubtedly influenced by the artist’s time in Rome during the early 1770s. While there, he made drawings after countless antiquities that served as inspiration for his work over the next few decades and helped him develop a more geometrically bold style of draftsmanship. Many of the motifs incorporated in the candelabra, including armorial trophies and victory figures were topoi copied by young (foreign) artists from sarcophagi and other sculptural remains from Roman Antiquity. Candelabra designs by Giovanni Battista Piranesi, executed as sculpture in the round as well as in prints, would have served as more direct examples for Moitte’s candelabrum. However, whereas Piranesi’s candelabra were heavily inspired by, and often sold as Roman Antiquities, Moitte’s overall silhouette derives from a series of early-modern candelabra that became objects of study for French artists in Rome.
The present drawing is a new discovery within the oeuvre of Jean Guillaume Moitte. As such, the direct context for the design is not known. However, the inclusion of the relief of dancing nymphs might hold a clue. Moitte used a similar motif in the exterior decoration of the Barrière d’Enfer, one of several new administrative buildings erected between 1784 and 1790 as part of an expansion of the city walls of Paris. It is quite possible that the monumental candelabrum was conceived contiguously and intended for the same, or one of the other new buildings.
The design was undoubtedly influenced by the artist’s time in Rome during the early 1770s. While there, he made drawings after countless antiquities that served as inspiration for his work over the next few decades and helped him develop a more geometrically bold style of draftsmanship. Many of the motifs incorporated in the candelabra, including armorial trophies and victory figures were topoi copied by young (foreign) artists from sarcophagi and other sculptural remains from Roman Antiquity. Candelabra designs by Giovanni Battista Piranesi, executed as sculpture in the round as well as in prints, would have served as more direct examples for Moitte’s candelabrum. However, whereas Piranesi’s candelabra were heavily inspired by, and often sold as Roman Antiquities, Moitte’s overall silhouette derives from a series of early-modern candelabra that became objects of study for French artists in Rome.
The present drawing is a new discovery within the oeuvre of Jean Guillaume Moitte. As such, the direct context for the design is not known. However, the inclusion of the relief of dancing nymphs might hold a clue. Moitte used a similar motif in the exterior decoration of the Barrière d’Enfer, one of several new administrative buildings erected between 1784 and 1790 as part of an expansion of the city walls of Paris. It is quite possible that the monumental candelabrum was conceived contiguously and intended for the same, or one of the other new buildings.
Artwork Details
- Title: A Monumental Candelabrum with Victory Figure
- Artist: Jean Guillaume Moitte (French, Paris 1746–1810 Paris)
- Date: 1789
- Medium: Pen, India ink and gray wash
- Dimensions: Sheet: 28 3/8 × 17 5/16 in. (72.1 × 43.9 cm)
- Classifications: Drawings, Ornament & Architecture
- Credit Line: Harry G. Sperling Fund, 2025
- Object Number: 2025.706
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints
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Attributed to Jean Guillaume Moitte (French, Paris 1746–1810 Paris)
1776
Jean Guillaume Moitte (French, Paris 1746–1810 Paris)
n.d.
Jean Guillaume Moitte (French, Paris 1746–1810 Paris)
Jean Guillaume Moitte (French, Paris 1746–1810 Paris)
ca. 1770–90
Jean Guillaume Moitte (French, Paris 1746–1810 Paris)
1789
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